Page 144 of Ashen Souls

I closed my eyes, blocking out the sound of the rain and Ethan’s steady breathing. I forced my mind toward the blood. Toward the dying fire. Toward Daeren.

The ring reacted. A shockwave tore up my arm, setting the sigil on fire. The bedroom vanished. Gravity inverted, sucking me through a crushing darkness.

My bare feet slammed into solid stone, the impact making my knees buckle.

Sweat beaded on my skin before I even opened my eyes, and my first breath tasted like ash and burning coal.

I was standing in his chamber. The atmosphere hummed, heavy with the scent of sulfur and baked rock.

“I knew I didn't have to lift a finger. I knew you’d eventually crawl back on your own.”

His voice drifted out from the airless gloom, lazy and smug. My head was still reeling from watching him bleed to death, and he was already mocking me.

“Let me guess. Has the human professor failed to satisfy you already? I can fix that for you, my love.”

He stepped into the light, radiating that familiar, oppressive inferno.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I said, keeping my voice flat. “This has nothing to do with wanting to be here. I had a vision.”

Daeren let out a low, dismissive scoff. “Visions again? You should be careful with those, Patches. They are fickle things. They lie as often as they speak the truth. They are rarely as clear as they seem.”

He sounded too familiar with the concept. It was the tone of a man remembering a very specific, old headache. Avelia. Had she seen things too? Was this her gift, or her curse, passed down to me?

He closed the distance, crowding me until the aggressive heat of his body bled right through my thin clothes. His eyes dropped to my mouth, a silent, mocking dare to see if I would lean in.

“Stay away from me,” I snapped, taking a hard step back. “I saw you bleeding out. You saved my life on that bridge, so I’m returning the favor. This is a warning. That’s all it is. I’m not staying here a second longer than I have to.”

He paused. A flicker of genuine surprise broke through his arrogance.

“Why such a hurry? Eager to get back to your lover? Tell me, Aveline… how was it? How does ordinary human sex feel after how I fucked you?”

I recoiled, nausea twisting my stomach.

“You are disgusting,” I spat. “But I shouldn't be surprised. You will never understand what Ethan and I have. And I am not going to waste my breath explaining it to a creature with nothing inside him but darkness and a bottomless ego.”

A dark laugh scraped out of Daeren's throat.

“Human feelings are painfully overrated,” he drawled. “Still, this is sweet of you, my dear, to warn me. But you seem to have forgotten what I am. I don’t die. And I certainly can't be killed. Especially not by your brave little professor.”

My brow furrowed. What the hell was he talking about?

“You want to keep her all to yourself, don't you, Professor Hale?” Daeren’s voice dropped, turning dangerously soft as he slowly turned his head, his gaze locking onto the shadows behind him.

Before the name even registered, Daeren spun around. By the time I blinked, his hand was already locked tight around Ethan’s throat.

Daeren yanked him forward, dragging him into the fiery glow so I could see him.

Ethan couldn't speak. His face was pale and strained as he clawed at Daeren's forearm, fighting for air. His other hand was white-knuckled around the hilt of a dagger I had never seen before. He was standing barefoot in the middle of this hell, looking painfully human compared to the demon choking him. But when his eyes found mine, there was no panic. They were desperate, full of unspoken apologies.

“Ethan,” I breathed. My brain stuttered. How? Why was he here? Did he grab me the second the ring pulled me through?

“Daeren, let him go,” I begged. Panic cracked my voice as tears spilled over my cheeks. “Please. Please. Don't hurt him. If you ever felt a single thing for me, drop him. I swear to God, I will never forgive you.”

Daeren looked at me with absolute indifference.

“You keep forgetting who you belong to,” he murmured. He tightened his grip. Ethan let out a choked gasp, his fingers slipping uselessly against Daeren’s forearm.

“You gave yourself—your body and your soul—to this insignificant human,” Daeren continued, watching Ethan struggle as if he were an insect before his eyes snapped back to me. “These are the consequences of that choice, my love.”